


Fight To The Life Of Me

by annelea



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-08 05:57:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11075445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annelea/pseuds/annelea
Summary: After four years of retirement, Kakashi returns home only to find the streets filled with hungry corpses. His return puts the refugees on the other side of the mountain at risk, and two hundred people must pick up and leave to unknown parts, hoping it will be safer.





	1. Prologue: Home?

The walk home was silent.

For some, that would be comforting, especially when accompanied by a loud-mouth like Maito Gai.  This past week, though, it was nerve wracking.

Gai was the first to notice.  He was used to filling in Kakashi's silence with his own, never ending monologue about the landscape, the flowers, the wildlife, that stray cat over there, the architecture of a building up ahead (wouldn't Yamato like that one?)...  Because of that, Kakashi was so busy tuning him out, he didn't notice the silence around them.

At first, there were no birds.  Then there were no cattle (they were leaving the farming communities by now, though).  Then there were very few people.  Today, there weren't even insects chirping in the grass or buzzing by their heads.  In Spring, there should have been an explosion of insects, rabbits, squirrels, and the like, all coming out to feast on the first blooms of flowers and first shoots of grass.

Nothing.

The silence had actually shut up the wheelchair bound man.  After several seconds of this, Kakashi caught on and stopped pushing his friend and travel companion along the path.

That's when it hit him.

"Where is everyone?" Gai questioned at a whisper.  Even that was enough to sound loud in the absolute silence around them.  Not even a slight breeze had disturbed the leaves for at least an hour.  "Kakashi, did you take us the wrong way?  I thought this was the main road to Konoha?"

"It is." Kakashi resisted the urge to growl.  Something had happened, something bad.  Yet, why hadn't anyone said anything to them before?  News of something bad enough to shut up every living, breathing creature in the area would be something people would talk about.  The two men were well-known in all the nations for decades.  Someone, anyone, would have at least asked them what happened.

"We should stop and rest a few moments," Kakashi suggested.

"Yes, but not too long."  Gai knew they were going to gather their strength to face whatever was on the path ahead.

Gai lifted himself out of the wheelchair and onto a soft patch of grass at the side of the dirt road as Kakashi pulled out snacks and water from the pack on the back of the chair.  The two adopted the habitual back to back seating style, watching everything around.  Gai faced the way forward, and Kakashi watched the way they had come.

There!  One bird!

"Kakashi, look!" Gai tapped his friend's arm and pointed.

The hawk swooped down and landed right beside them, observing quietly.  Was it looking for food?  No.  It was tamed.  The little pouch on its leg showed as much.

"Could that be Uchiha's?" Gai asked, sounding almost hopeful.

With narrowed eyes, Kakashi offered his arm.  The bird came straight to him.  He took the pouch's contents out and then offered the bird some dried meat which it took gratefully.  The bird retreated to the tree to eat it's reward as Kakashi looked over the messages.

"It is Sasuke's.  These notes are distress calls.  It seems he sent the bird out to find whomever it could and spread the word.  They're dated from yesterday."

"And the bird only made it this far?" Gai questioned, wondering why it would take so long.  "And since when does Uchiha-san send out distress calls?"

"I think we've rested here long enough."


	2. Chapter 1: Gather

"It's time to go."

Yamato checked his watch. It was six thirty in the evening, barely enough time to make it out of this dark, underground labyrinth and to home camp before nightfall. Nightfall meant danger from all around. The dark of Konoha's ANBU headquarters was dangerous enough in ful day, but night meant much worse. Sighing he shoved one more stack of papers into the fire, grabbed his pack full of scavenged medical supplies, and stood to lead the way back outside.

He knew these halls better than she, having spent so much of his life among them. So, when he took a detour to a cafeteria, Sakura didn't think to object before they were already in one of the food storage rooms. With a wink, he opened up a door to reveal cases upon cases of field rations.

" We don't have room for all of this," Sakura reminded, clearly annoyed.

"We can take a few now and get more tomorrow," Yamato told her, already holding three. "We could use it."

"Fine. Don't overload yourself."

They each randomly grabbed three a piece before he lead the way back out. Quiet ruled the land they stepped into. Not even birds made a noise. There were no people, no stray dogs, not even a breeze to ease the humidity brought on by a mid day rain shower. Instantly, the pair began to sweat, their breathing becoming slightly labored with the drastic changes. It was going to be a long trek over the mountain just to sleep in a tent. Sakura looked longingly at all the homes and apartment buildings in the distance. Each of them had a soft mattress and a comfortable pillow somewhere inside. It sucked that many of them were currently filled with rotting corpses.

Shaking that thought out of her mind, she trudged forward, walking side by side with her former captain.

Three weeks ago, when they walked this road together every morning and evening, people would wave and say hello, often asking about her daughter. She would tell them Kimiko was doing well in school, still loved playing with her puppy, and still hated eating broccoli with a passion.

Sakura fought the urge to pull out the little family photo she kept in her vest pocket along side the photos of her parents and two team photos. The girl looked far too much like her father. Anyone who didn't already know them should swear there was no way Sakura coud be her mother. That lasted only until they got to know the girl. Kimiko may have been a quiet, well mannered, unfussy baby, but she was a bold, friendly, unreserved toddler with a vocabulary miles long.

She was the kind of child that would wake her parents up in the middle of the night to ask questions like "are there more stars out there than we can see?"

Yamato stopped and looked back, suddenly noticing Sakura wasn't at his side any longer. The blank stare in her eyes said all he needed to know. "Come on. We can't take any personal time today."

She wanted to scream. She hadn't had any personal time in weeks. Not to prepare her daughter for the deaths that word happen in the streets, not to get her daughter to safety with the others, and certainly not any to grieve. If it hadn't been for Yamato, she wouldn't have had the time to bury Kimiko in the first place.

"Sakura!" he yelled at her, commanding her attention. "Get moving. People are counting on us to get these supplies."

"Yes, Captain," she bit back harshly. If she was looking, she would have seen the hurt in his face. She hadn't called him that in four years

"So, it's that way now?" He asked, lowly.

"Don't raise your damn voice at me... especially here."

"Sakura," he reached out to take her hands in his, "I had to. You know why. After tomorrow, we will get our day's rest. We can take it all in then. Not now. Not here."

Lips pursed, she yanked her hands from his and started marching onward again. They made their way up the cliff side path in silence.

Had it not been for the unnatural quiet over the land, they probably never would have heard the man yelling down in the streets below. One loud noise, kept short, was safe. The racket this idiot was making far exceeded anything the scavenger parties could hope to survive without one hell of a fight after.

Looking back down to where they had come from, they could see what appeared to be an elderly man waving his arms frantically. He was calling directly to them from the top of an apartment building. Behind him came a horde of other figures at an increasing rate of speed.

"Shit!" Yamato yanked off his overstuffed pack and shoved it at Sakura. "Get this back to camp. I'll see what I can do for the idiot."

"But-!" she began to protest.

"No. I will kill him if he can't keep up and shut up, but you have to get this to the medics as fast as possible. They need you back tonight or Lee might not make it. You know that. Get going. I will be there by tomorrow afternoon with or without that guy. Now GO!"

She hated that he brought up Lee. He was a new father, and a single one at that. It didn't help much that he was currently almost out of antibiotics to fight off the infection the mother of his child gave him with a poisoned dagger an hour after their son was born. At that point, she was already too far gone to save. Lee took the hit to protect their son while Sakura herself drove a pair of clamps into Tenten's skull. It was the quickest method available to stop the oncoming potential slaughter Sakura had available. At least the kid wouldn't have any memory of it later. Lee and Sakura would have to live with it for the rest of their lives, however short that may be.

Sakura reached out and grabbed Yamato by the sleeve. Before he had time to protest, she said everything with a fast kiss on his lips. She said she was sorry, she wanted him to be safe, she would worry, and she loved him all at once. He replied in kind.

"Go," he whispered, pushing away and launching himself off the side of the mountain towards the man below.


	3. Chapter 2: We Meet Again

The closer he got to the idiot, the quieter said idiot became.  The old man visibly relaxed when he saw that Yamato was headed directly for him.  He had been seen, and help was coming.  Within three yards, the elderly man's identity was easy to confirm... and he wasn't really elderly at all.  He'd just been born with that white mop atop his head.  
  
Yamato balled up a fist, putting an extra burst of speed in his next couple steps.  One of the mob coming up behind Kakashi was reaching out to grab him by the shoulder, and Kakashi was completely oblivious.  For a moment, Yamato considered punching Kakashi and leaving him there to die.  But, no, he couldn't hide that from Sakura, and she would be so very, very angry.  So he threw the punch at the face of the man behind Kakashi instead, his fist grazing Kakashi's ear.

The two men fell into sync, creating a gap of fallen bodies between them and the others clamoring on top of the roof to get at them and took off.  Kakashi tried leading the way to the mountain, intent on following Sakura, but Yamato grabbed his arm and jerked him in another direction, to the new Hokage Tower.  He didn't let go until they were at the very top.  He only let go to barricade the door to the roof shut with wood he created with what little was left of his chakra before collapsing to his knees, resting his forehead against the cool metal of the strong door.

"What the hell are you doing?" Yamato asked, panting.  "Don't you know what happens when you make that much noise here?  Now we're stuck for the night."  
  
"Nice to see you, too, Tenzo," Kakashi remarked sarcastically.  "Why aren't we following that person you were with earlier?"

"Because they"-he pointed back the other direction without looking-"would follow us.  It would compromise camp.  We have wounded, elderly, and very young to protect."  
  
"They don't have chakra signatures," Kakashi remarked.  "They didn't make a sound.  I didn't know they were there until you hit that one."

"Just now figuring that out?" Yamato turned on him, anger clear as day on his face.  "If I didn't do that, you would have become one of them at best.  At worst, they would have eaten you alive.  Chakra based attacks don't work on them.  Hands only get you so far unles you're Sakura.  Where have you been?  Four years you've been gone, and you can't be bothered to show up until now?  Why'd you even come home?"

"Because Naruto quit writing almost a month ago.  He wrote twice a week until then.  What happened?"  
  
"Ask the medics," Yamato brushed him off.  "If Sakura lets you live long enough to do so...  Bastard.  I should have left you down there to die."  
  
Kakashi felt the waves of anger pouring off the worn out man, curious.  "You do understand that I have been gone to gain more information about the world outside of the Shinobi nations.  We need to expand our horizons, to fit in to this new, less violent world we've found ourselves in."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Yamato nearly yelled, remembering only barely to keep his voice down as he stood up and put his face right in Kakashi's.  "You left Sakura here, alone.  You left her to raise your kid alone.  But, you know what?  I stepped in.  I raised her with Sakura.  And you knew this whole time!  You knew you had responsibilities here, that there were other people who could do what you were doing.  But, I should be thankful.  I finally found someone who would love me.  I found someone I could raise a family with..."

Kakashi was both shocked and confused, but not so much confused when Yamato threw a photograph at him.  Kakashi caught it and flipped it over to study the family on the other side.  There sat Sakura holding a brunet baby boy,  Yamato stood behind her, his hands on her shoulders.  In the fore-ground knelt a toddler with long, braided silver hair and grey eyes.  Shock factor went up, but confusion went down.  
  
"But that dream is gone," he spat.  
  
Kakashi sat down rather hard, not really hearing the last bit at all.  All he knew was that there was a child who looked so very much like him.  
  
"Why didn't you come home?  You knew about Kimiko."  
  
"No, I didn't," Kakashi replied quietly.  "When Naruto wrote, he talked about Sakura's daughter, but...  He never said she was mine."  
  
Yamato's brow furrowed deeply.  "That makes no sense."  
  
"I assumed she was yours after a while.  He never sent photos."  
  
"Keep that one, then.  Sakura keeps another."

Kakashi didn't voice it, but he was thankful.  "Where is she?  Is she where Sakura was going?"  
  
"No," Yamato shook his head.  "She's at home.  In the ground."  
  
Kakashi's stomach dropped even farther.  
  
"You really didn't know?"  
  
He shook his head.  
  
Yamato looked back at the mountain, scanning for the hidden path they both knew was there.  "Good luck explaining that to Sakura."  
  
"What about the other kid?  It's definitely yours."  
  
"You'll meet Kinoe when we get there tomorrow," Yamato stated, still looking at the mountain longingly.  "He's almost a year old."  
  
"Kinoe?  But that's the name you used to go by."  
  
"Yeah, I told her that when she picked out the name.  Sakura said it fit even better then."

"What happened to Kimiko?" Kakashi swallowed hard, wanting to know, but not sure if he was ready.  
  
"I..." Yamato looked back into town, towards the home that he and Sakura had shared with their children.  "They killed her.  She was... she was sleeping.  A couple of them got in...  Sakura was bathing Kinoe, and Kimiko was taking her nap."  
  
"I don't understand."

"You see that dog down there," he pointed to a street near them.  A strqy dog (How did it get here?)  was rummaging through some trash.  It knocked over some cans, creating a loud bang.  Now that it was dark, more of the odd people were filling the streets, and even that one noise was enough to draw lots of attention.  "Watch it."  
  
Yamato turned away when the flood of beings surrounded the dog, he even put his hands over his ears before the dog began yipping and barking.  But, Kakashi watched.  He watched the people physically tear the dog apart with their hands and mouths, running off with their prized pieces or standing to eat it right there, only to have it ripped from them by someone else who began to eat the raw flesh.  It happened so fast that the dog was still barking up the the point that it's lungs were ripped away.  
  
"I came home to that, and Sakura covered in their parts.  We gathered every piece we could and made a grave for her under the willow tree in the back yard." Yamato informed a very sick looking Kakashi.  "They eat mammals only, it seems.  If you escape with only a scratch, you're fine.  If they get their saliva in you, but you escape, you become one of them."  
  
"Can they make it up here?"

"Not as long as we don't attract them.  They don't like heat, and it's warmer up here than in the streets right now.  We have to stay quiet for the rest of the night now.  Even a whisper can attract them if there's one within three hundred feet once it cools off enough."


	4. Chapter 3: Camp

When morning's first light came, both men were sleepy and hungry.  Both had stayed awake, and quiet all night.  Neither had food on them of any kind.  Yamato and Kakashi sucked it up and started out on their two hour trek across the mountain and far to the other side.  Some wild black berries served as a snack as they made their way down the back side of the mountain, and it gave them just enough energy to make it to the large camp's boarder.  
  
They were stopped by three guards and two medics to be checked over for injuries or possible infection points.  When cleared, the medics offered them water and cold chicken and rice.  Yamato advised Kakashi to just sit there and eat it.  They still needed permission from higher up the line to enter the camp.  Their arrival would be reported along with their condition, and then the decision whether to let them in or kill them would be made.  Since they were clean of any wounds, Yamato wasn't worried and rather enjoyed the chance to sit and eat something for the first time in almost two days.  
  
"This place is well organized and stocked," Kakashi noted.  
  
"The moment they saw the potential speed of the outbreak, the medics started shuffling things here.  I created the temporary housing when Sakura told me what was going on.  We didn't have much time, not enough at all.  So, every day, two teams go back to gather more supplies.  It's slow going and only a little at a time, but it's better than nothing.  It's better than sending too many people at once and loosing most of them."  
  
Two women approached, one blond, one brunet.  Each carried a child on their hip and a grim set to their mouths.  
  
"Ah, Ino and Hinata."  
  
Kakashi did a double take.  Ino's hair was short and badly cut, like Sakura's had been for a while as a child.  Hinata's, however, was the longest he'd ever seen, and being eagerly chewed on by the blond child she carried.  The brunet boy Ino carried was squirming and leaning away from her the moment he set eyes on the two men waiting at the border.  
  
"Oh, okay!" Ino set the boy down roughly at let him hobble the rest of the way towards Yamato.  
  
Kakashi was critical of the way the child moved.  Sure, all kids his age that could walk had a hard time of it, but this kid's feet were turned inwards.  He was having a much harder time of it that he should.  He understood the rest of Yamato's fears now.  If something wasn't done soon, the boy would never grow into a child who could run on his own.  In this environment, it wasn't likely he would get what he needed.  
  
"Hey, buddy," Yamato opened his arms wide to gather his son up into a hug.  "Where's mommy?"  
  
"She sleeping," Kinoe answered with a wide grin.  
  
"Oh, so aunt Ino kept you all night?" he asked the woman more than the child.  
  
"Yeah," Ino and the child answered at the same time.  "Well, now that you're here, I need to get to work.  Sakura stayed with Lee all night.  It's my turn."  
  
"Thank you," he smiled at her, then changed his attention back to the boy in his arms, giving him a kiss on the cheek.  
  
Hinata, whom had been quiet until then, spoke directly to Kakashi.  
  
"You need to come with me, Kakashi-sama."  
  
"I need to speek with Sakura first, then sleep."  
  
"No," she stated rather sternly.  Becoming a mother had brought that out in her far more, it seemed.  "You should leave the Iburi family alone for now.  Give them a day, and spend it with us.  Naruto, Shikamaru, Iruka-sensei, Shino, and I need to bring you up to speed."  
  
"It's probably for the best," Yamato told him.  "I'll need time to explain to Sakura that you're here."  
  
"Okay," Kakashi agreed, then stood to follow Hinata to the camp's headquarters.

* * *

 

Sakura had had maybe three hours sleep when she heard the tent flap move asside to admit her son and husband.  More eager to greet them than to continue resting, she started to sit up, only to be tackled back down by her son who insissted on showering her face with sloppy kisses.  
  
"Hi baby, I love you," she murmured, then blinked up at the expressionless face of Yamato.  "What's up?  Did that old man make it alright?"  
  
"He's not an old man," Yamato informed, sitting down on the futon next to her.  "Sakura...  it's him."  
  
"Him who?" she asked, confused.  
  
"Kakashi."  
  
Sakura went still and quiet.  He wasn't sure what was going through her mind, but he knew what was happening inside his own chest.  Fear.  Sakura had loved Kakashi greatly before he left.  Despite the fact that she was now Yamato's wife, their union was only possible because of Kakashi's absense.  There had been many times he wondered how this conversation would go should Kakashi ever return.  Would she leave him for Kakashi?  
  
"Oh...  Shit." was her initial reply.  As she hugged her son closer, the tears began to fall.  Anger and sorrow played across her face.  
  
"Ow, Mommy!" Kinoe fussed as she squeezed a little too tightly.  
  
"Sorry, baby," she let him go, balling her fists into the light blanket around her lap.  
  
The boy shuffled off to his corner of the tent to play with his toys.  Yamato scooted closer to put his arm around her shoulders.  Sakura didn't brush him off, but she didn't embrace him either.  She was locked down in her swirling thoughts and emotions for a couple moments before uttering just one more word.  
  
"Bastard."  
  
"You don't have to see him if you don't want to," he told her, rubbing her shoulder gently.  "I can handle him for you."  
  
"He probably doesn't give a shit about me anyway," she muttered.  "Why should I worry?  I'll deal with him professionally when I have to."  
  
"He wants to speak with you."  
  
"Can't imagine why."  
  
Yamato pulled back to look her in the eyes, "He didn't know."  
  
"Bull shit," she scoffed.  "I dropped more than a few hints.  You heard him yourself when he said he would like to become a father.  Well, he became a father.  Nothing more.  You were her dad, not him."  
  
"Men can be dense idiots when it comes to those sorts of things.  He never got your hints."  
  
"I doubt that."  
  
"Sakura," he sighed.  "All I'm asking is that you don't be mean to him.  He's a living, breathing, asset for all of us.  This camp needs his protection.  Don't piss him off.  After all, he just found out he had a kid, and..."  
  
"And?" she pressed.  
  
He looked away, back at Kinoe who was currently scribbling away in a coloring book.  "There was a dog.  It knocked over some trash cans looking for food.  I made him watch what they did to it.  Now he has an idea."  
  
Sakura leaned against him again, squeezing her eyes shut as the memories poured over her again.  For her, it was just a day ago that she had given birth to her daughter, and seconds since the toddler had died.  No.  Murdered.  Whomever had set that virus loose was a murderer.  The physical hands that ripped her daughter apart were the murderer's extended tools.  That's how Sakura saw it.  
  
Yamato kissed her hair and held her tight as he shed a few of his own tears.  He didn't know when the pain in his chest would ease up for longer than a few hours while he focused on work.  Every time they came back to their temporary dwelling, they saw her favorite stuffed dog resting on their bed.  It was bright pink with blue eyes and purple spots.  Sakura thought it was the ugliest thing when Yamato brought it home for Kimiko's second birthday present, but Kimiko fell in love with it and carried it everywhere.  The only reason it wasn't stained with her blood was because Sakura had set it asside to wash it after making sure Kimiko was asleep.  She would get Kinoe washed up, then put to bed for his nap, and then she would wash the stuffed animal and replace it in her daughter's bed before she woke up again.  
  
That had been the plan, anyway.  
  
"Please, just... keep him away from me," Sakura pleaded.  "Don't let him near Kinoe."


	5. Chapter 4: Where is Gai?

Of course, Naruto ran full speed at Kakashi and bear hugged him, tackling the exhausted Kakashi to the ground.  Iruka gave him a hand up after Shino and Shikamaru managed to pull the boisterous blond away.

"Hey, where's Gai-sensei?" Naruto asked, looking around as if the man would suddenly appear out of nowhere.

"I left him behind on the other side of the gates," Kakashi admitted.  "He had all our supplies, and everything was quiet."

The four men shared a look.

"Sensei, the other side of the gates is safer, but not entirely," Naruto stated lowly.  "Shika-"

"Already on it," Shikamaru waved him off.  "Hinata, will you come with me?"

She looked to Naruto for approval.  He gave his nod, and the pair were off, taking the long way around the mountain rather than through Konoha.  Kakashi didn't have to tell them exactly where to look.  Hinata would find him with ease.

"Some of them slipped out before we got everything barricaded," Naruto supplied the answer.  "Where the hell have you been, Sensei?  Didn't Sasuke's hawk reach you?"

"Yesterday," Kakashi sighed.  "How long ago was he sent?"

"A week..."

"He wasn't far beyond the wall when we saw him.  Where is Sasuke?"

"Hunting the ones who escaped... without me."

Kakashi laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "As Hokage, you needed to stay with the people.  It's understandable."

"No.  I stayed because of my son," Naruto interjected quickly.  "I was going.  Shikamaru and Iruka-sensei were going to take care of things here, but Boruto wouldn't let me go.  He heard 'daddy's leaving' and started throwing a fit.  A LOUD fit.  We can't have that here.  Not now."

"Also, understandable," Kakashi sighed, then switched gears.  "What kind of help can I be here?"

Iruka stepped in again, "You can help us with supply runs during the day, and guard duty at night.  Once the medics figure out a way to either cure or disable those who have... changed... we will need you to help implement their work on everyone still inside."

"I hate to sound so callous, but can't we just kill them off?" Kakashi suggested.

"We tried that," Shino responded.  If Kakashi didn't know any better, he'd bet the younger man was rolling his eyes behind those goggle/glasses things.  "They don't go down easy.  Physical attacks only.  You have to get in close and destroy the whole body.  Parts will continue to function on their own unless every tendon is severed or every muscle destroyed.  They eat everything, not just breathing creatures, although those are their favorite.  They even eat their own if one is damaged enough."

"What kind of jutsu is being used?" Kakashi asked, eyes wide.  "It sounds like... like what that one Akatsuki used.  The one Shikamaru buried."

"You're close to the mark on that one," Iruka responded.  "The Akatsuki known as Hidan was used to create the initial virus.  The medics were experimenting with part of his body.  Shikamaru's mother got cancer in her liver.  It spread.  He offered up Hidan's hand for experimentation in a bid to save her.  Instead of curing her, as it first seemed it would, all this happened."

"Nara Yoshino-san was patient zero, then?"

"No," Iruka shook his head.  "They were testing on a handful of monkeys before moving to human trials.  Her cancer was slowing down, so she had some time.  It was the monkeys."

"Where is she now?"

"Still in Konoha."

 

* * *

 

It took an hour to go around Konoha.  They had to be careful not to make noise and attract attention.  Hinata didn't bother activating her Byakugan until they were almost to the other side.  The moment she saw Gai, she reached out and stopped Shikamaru in his tracks.

"What?" he whispered.

"There's one close to him," she hissed back, pulling a couple kunai from her leg pouch.

Shikamaru followed suit.  "Where?"

Hinata pointed left, then right. "Gai-sensei is there.  The other is only three yards away from him."

Shikamaru put a hand on her shoulder.  "I'll grab Gai-sensei.  You dispatch the other.  Got it?"

She nodded only once, and they were on the move.  The moment she reached the threat, he appeared before Gai, finger held to his lips in warning.  Thankfully, the man understood.  The glee left his face when he started hearing body parts fall to the ground near by.  It changed to confusion, but Shikamaru caught his attention again, gesturing that everything that could be put into a back pack, should be.  Leave everything else, including the wheel chair.

Gai didn't want to do that, but Shikamaru insisted there would be more where they were going.  Gai gave him a glare, but Shikamaru didn't back down.  Hinata was with them at this point, picking up the backpack that had once been on Gai's wheelchair.

"We don't have time to argue about this," Shikamaru hissed.  "The scent of blood will attract more soon, if any are down wind.  Now, get on my back, and let's get you out of here."


End file.
